Authentic journalism knocking on U.S. Supreme Court's door

[cascadiance]

Here's an opinion piece in the Narcosphere that highlights both Sibel Edmonds', Richard Horn's, and Lok Lau's legal efforts being handicapped by the "states secret" act. It notes that this administration has used this *previously* little used act no less than 8 times from the writ of certiorari that Edmonds submitted to appeal to the Supreme Court.

The article notes that the Supreme Court really needs to do its job in not letting this get in the way of democracy!

From: http://narcosphere.narconews.com/story/2005/8/7/18410/54600

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Authentic journalism knocking on U.S. Supreme Court's door
By Bill Conroy,
Posted on Sun Aug 7th, 2005 at 06:41:00 PM EST

A story first reported by Narco News has shown up in a Supreme Court petition filed recently by Sibel Edmonds, a former FBI translator who is seeking to take on the White House over a national-security nuclear option known as state secrets privilege.

Edmonds was fired from her job after blowing the whistle on alleged espionage being carried out by a fellow FBI employee. She is now being prevented from pursuing a whistleblower retaliation lawsuit filed in 2002 (based on alleged violations of her civil rights) because of the state secrets privilege claim. The claim essentially shuts down her ability to present evidence in the case under the smokescreen that it would jeopardize national security.

Edmonds’ petition for review, called a writ of certiorari, states the following:

Petitioner Sibel Edmonds, a former translator for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) who was terminated in retaliation for reporting serious security breaches and potential espionage within the FBI’s translation unit, seeks review of the judgment of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia affirming the dismissal of her retaliatory termination case on the basis of the state secrets privilege. Petitioner (Edmonds) also seeks review of the Court of Appeals’ … exclusion of the press and the public from appellate argument.

The state secrets privilege claim, which was established as part of a 1953 Supreme Court ruling known as the Reynolds case, allows the government to deep-six information in a court case by simply claiming that it is a threat to national security.